


Love Letters

by ana_kl



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:35:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25912192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ana_kl/pseuds/ana_kl
Summary: Leon’s curious about Matt’s love letters.
Relationships: Leon Draisaitl/Matthew Tkachuk
Comments: 13
Kudos: 154





	Love Letters

Matt likes to write notes. 

It’s something that Leon notices when they’re around a year into their relationship, long enough to feel secure with each other and to feel comfortable sharing their quirks and vulnerabilities. Usually, Matt leaves them on his phone’s Notes app; Leon finds the first one by surprise as he’s settling down for the night in a downtown Nashville hotel. It’s short and sweet — Matt just typed out a couple sentences about how much he loves Leon, how he’s going to be great on the ice and how much he misses him — and it’s exactly what Leon needs to see because he misses Matt a lot, too. 

Matt must be sneaking onto Leon’s phone the night before either one of them has to get on the road, because after Leon finds the first one, he knows to check his app every time he and Matt are apart. Matt could just as easily text Leon instead of leaving him a note he might not even have found — even a DM on Instagram would’ve had more certainty — but there’s apparently something special about notes. 

When Matt and Leon move in together three years into their relationship, Leon starts finding handwritten notes around their house, too. At first, he thinks Matt’s worried that he’ll forget to feed their dog the  specific treats he likes while he’s away, but then he notices that they’re not to-do lists or instructions of any kind. Like the phrases Matt’s left on his phone (and that Leon hasn’t deleted since he found the first one), the handwritten notes tell Leon how much Matt loves him and how he can’t wait to cuddle when he gets back. Matt has surprisingly nice handwriting and Leon keeps all the papers and scraps that turn up around the house in Matt’s absence and they at once make Matt feel a little closer and also make him miss Matt more. 

Leon really likes them and at the same time, he’s curious as to why love notes seem to be Matt’s thing. It’s cute, it’s sweet, and Leon wonders if Matt was one of those kids whose mom would include a handwritten note in their lunch box everyday at school. He just wants to know because he wants to know everything about Matt in general. 

He ends up asking Matt about it when they return to their place after a home game against the Stars. The Oilers ultimately won, but barely, and Leon had been stressed about it since the previous week.

He finds one of Matt’s handwritten notes between second and third period, right in the side pocket of his equipment bag, and sitting there in the locker room with everything so tense and the guys try to get into the mindset of taking the lead in the last 20 minutes, he feels a lot less tense. He knows Matt’s watching the game: the Flames have a few days before their next game and Matt’s in Edmonton. The guys and their partners all know that Leon and Matt are together, and Connor’s girlfriend manages to sneak Matt into the family section, without the media or fans noticing. It’s still a bit of a risk, so Matt always goes in plain clothes when he goes to the games in person, but, as the note promises, he likes to change into Leon’s jersey and only Leon’s jersey once they get home, and happily lets Leon do whatever he wants. 

Matt’s still (more or less) dressed in what he wore to the game and Leon’s so far only lost his suit jacket and tie by the time he has Matt pressed against the kitchen island once they’re home. However heated their kisses are getting, however many times he’s tugged at Matt’s curls, Leon proceeds to pull away just a little to ask Matt why he likes writing notes so much. 

He thinks he’s conveyed that he appreciates them in his tone and his expression, but maybe not because Matt suddenly tenses in his arms and blushes, his gaze dropping along with his hands from where they were resting on Leon’s shoulders just seconds before.

“Hey... Matty, I love them. I just want to know why you like writing them so much,” Leon smiles reassuringly, kissing Matt gently, in a chaste contrast to their earlier kisses. 

Matt relaxes a little, but he still looks subdued and Leon’s about to tell him that he doesn’t have to explain if he doesn’t want to, but Matt starts talking softly, wringing his hands a little as he rests them on Leon’s sternum. 

“My grandma wrote me a letter on my first birthday... I still have it,” Matt says quietly and Leon runs his fingers up and down Matt’s spine as he goes on. “She said she loved me before I was born and I...um... When I got older, sometimes I just really needed to be reminded that someone loved me...?” He finishes, his voice a little shaky as he sniffles.

“Oh... Schatzi...” Leon pulls Matt closer.

He understands better than anyone what it’s like growing up in a famous hockey family and his dad’s had the odd, unintentional slip-up where it sounds like his love for his son is proportional to how well Leon plays hockey. But he knows that Matt had it worse, growing up in America with a father in the NHL and a brother who plays hockey just as well as him. It doesn’t show when Matt’s in public or even with his family, and he plays his role of impenetrable agonist perfectly. But Leon knows that Matt’s not always happy and thinking only about the game, because he’s there on the nights when Matt’s filled with self-doubt or just wants someone to hold him when he cries. Leon has his own issues because of hockey, but he doesn’t think they run as deep as Matt’s. And Matt’s always been more sensitive, more trusting, honest and open; it means that Matt gets hurt easier, but it’salso one of the many reasons why Leon loves him so much. 

Matt’s crying a little as he tells Leon how he never got to have an adult relationship with his grandma on his mom’s side. He never really even got to know her as a kid because she had dementia when he was 13. Leon swears mentally when he realizes how familiar the English word sounds, but he doesn’t quite recall what it means until Matt tells him how towards the end, she’d confuse Brady and Taryn. 

Leon pulls Matt closer still as he listens, until Matt brushed his sleeves over his eyes with a little too much force for Leon’s liking, so he just takes Matt’s hands in his own and kisses the remaining tears away. 

He knows that Matt’s not heartbreakingly sad, that he’s just as much treading the line of pain and the peace and reassurance that his grandmother’s wordshave given him over the years. Still, he wants to make sure that Matt knows how much he loves him, how much he treasures that Matt’s chosen to share this with him, too. 

He wakes up before Matt the following morning and silently gets out of bed after he drops a soft kiss on Matt’s cheek. He tells Matt that he loves him all the time, but there’s something different about writing this out on paper. It’s almost half an hour before he’s ready to leave the piece of paper on his pillow beside Matt and he’s pretty sure it’s cringe-worthy cheesy to start it with “Good morning, Beautiful,” but he means it. 

He smiles as he feels Matt lean against his back as he prepares breakfast later, Matt’s arms wrapping around him from behind, the note into which he put all the effort he could in one of Matt’s hands.

“I love you too,” Matt says. 

Leon knows that they’re both well aware of how they feel about each other, but he’s still going to make sure that Matt never forgets how much he loves him. 


End file.
